


seven stages

by uselessenterprise



Category: Never Have I Ever (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Canon Compliant, College Applications, Drabble, Five Stages of Grief, Gen, High School, How Do I Tag, Light Angst, POV Third Person Limited, Post-Canon, Unbeta'd, more like seven stages of grief/loss am i right fellas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uselessenterprise/pseuds/uselessenterprise
Summary: Devi gets rejected from Princeton. She deals with it... eventually.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 13





	1. shock

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: the stages of loss are not substantiated by scientific research, but they do make for a fun writing prompt. Also, depending on what source you consult, there are supposedly anywhere between 5 and 7 stages—who knew??? This is just an idea I had stuck in my head and wanted to get out; the chapters are going to be pretty short, probably drabble-length, but they're not all written yet, so this does still have a chance to get away from me. (:
> 
> Also, as a person who went to their dream school only to find out it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, dropped out after first year, and then went back to a much less prestigious university in her hometown which was way better fit for her: you'll be okay if you don't get into your dream school, and you're not a bad person if you don't get in. <3 I wanted to write this because I think it's a really interesting character development for Devi to deal with, and also because I know first-hand that not being able to go to your dream school isn't the life-ending thing it seems like at 17/18. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shock stage: initial paralysis at hearing the bad news.

This was not possible. This couldn't be happening. Devi stared at the email on her laptop.

" _We regret to inform you… the admissions process is difficult… strong pool of applicants this year… decisions are final… no appeals process… thank you for your interest…_ "

She couldn't even process the words; it was like her brain had thrown all the knowledge of the past seventeen years out of the window, and reading was simply no longer a skill she possessed. Devi blinked, and then closed her eyes, blowing out a long breath. She was tired; it had been a long day, and the words in her textbooks were already starting to swim in front of her eyes before she even glanced at her computer. Was her window open? She suddenly felt like she had been hit with a cold breeze, but when she rubbed her hand over her face in the universal gesture of the exhausted, her palm was clammy with sweat. Devi told herself to relax, but it was as if her body was intent on doing the opposite of what she commanded, and her pulse and breathing both started to speed up like they did when she had to run the mile in gym. She felt dizzy and faintly nauseous, and she placed a hand on her desk to steady herself, scared that she actually might fall forward.

Devi wasn't sure how long she sat there, feeling as if she might pass out, just willing her body to walk itself back from the ledge. She tried the breathing technique she had learned in her first aid course: take a long, slow breath in through your nose, hold for three seconds, blow out a long breath through pursed lips, repeat. Eventually, she didn't feel like she needed to hold onto her desk anymore, and she let her hand fall back to her side. Maybe she hadn't eaten enough for dinner if a standard 4-hour study session was making her feel faint. She had almost forgotten to read, for crying out loud! It was so bad that she misinterpreted an important admissions message.

However, when she opened her eyes and carefully re-read the words on the screen, the email still said the same thing: Devi Vishwakumar had been rejected from Princeton.


	2. denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> denial stage: trying to avoid the inevitable.

"Any news from Princeton yet?" Nalini asked over dinner the next night.

"Nope!" Devi replied cheerfully, scooping more lettuce into her taco and averting her gaze from her mom and cousin.

"Really?" Nalini's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "One of my patients told me today that she received her acceptance letter this morning."

"I think they stagger the acceptances for different faculties," Devi lied. "What program was it?"

"Something in the humanities." Nalini's lip curled in disapproval. "Don't get me started on those liberal arts degrees. These _snowflakes_ nowadays…"

For once, Devi was happy to listen to her mother rant about why the humanities were worthless compared to a career in STEM. It meant that she didn't have to think about the rejection email sitting in her inbox. It had to have been a mistake, right? There was no other explanation; Princeton must have mixed up her application or email address with another student. Because there was no way that she, Devi Vishwakumar, got rejected from her dream school. Everything she had done for the entirety of her high school career—no, scratch that, her _life_ —was to get into Princeton. Every late-night study session where she stared at her notes until her eyes watered and she literally fell asleep on her textbooks, every extracurricular she threw herself into until she had no hours to herself, every unpaid summer internship she slaved at while her friends were out having fun at the beach… It was all for the moment when she would read that acceptance letter and could finally feel the rush of relief and pride of achieving her goal. So it simply wasn't possible that Princeton had rejected her.

Yes, there had just been a mistake. That was all.


End file.
